THE CRUCIBLE OF THE MILLENNIUM: The Birth of Globalization [set]

The years surrounding 1500 represent a pivotal time in human history, marking the birth of our Modern Age. During that period, the invention of the printing press in Europe, based on a Chinese invention, spurred an information revolution and changed the way people envisioned the world. Different peoples, cultures and religions came into contact with one another, sometimes violently. The reverberations of these developments are still felt today—in the interconnectedness of cultures and economies, and in issues related to immigration, the environment, economic inequality, nationalism and racism. The West's relationship with the Muslim world—a focus of considerable interest today—is profoundly rooted in the 15th century. The three-hour special, The Crucible of the Millennium, examines the technological advances, the wide-ranging exploration and the collision of cultures that characterized the midpoint of the last millennium, revealing why an understanding of that period is critical to an understanding of the world today

Filmed on location in China, Singapore, India, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Mexico and the United States, The Crucible of the Millennium captures key developments of the 15th and early 16th centuries from a variety of Western and non-Western perspectives. The program is hosted by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, former special representative to the United Nations and a distinguished photographer and author, with primary narration by Tony Award-winning actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson.